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1 Girard, Philippe de
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 1775 Franced. 1845[br]French developer of a successful flax-heckling machine for the preparation of fibres for power-spinning.[br]Early drawing and spinning processes failed to give linen yarn the requisite fineness and homogeneity. In 1810 Napoleon offered a prize of a million francs for a successful flax-spinning machine as part of his policy of stimulating the French textile industries. Spurred on by this offer, Girard suggested three improvements. He was too late to win the prize, but his ideas were patented in England in 1814, although not under his own name. He proposed that the fibres should be soaked in a very hot alkaline solution both before drawing and immediately before they went to the spindles. The actual drawing was to be done by passing the dried material through combs or gills that moved alternately; gill drawing was taken up in England in 1816. His method of wet spinning was never a commercial success, but his processes were adopted in part and developed in Britain and spread to Austria, Poland and France, for his ideas were essentially good and produced a superior product. The successful power-spinning of linen thread from flax depended primarily upon the initial processes of heckling and drawing. The heckling of the bundles or stricks of flax, so as to separate the long fibres of "line" from the shorter ones of "tow", was extremely difficult to mechanize, for each strick had to be combed on both sides in turn and then in the reverse direction. It was to this problem that Girard next turned his attention, inventing a successful machine in 1832 that subsequently was improved in England. The strick was placed between two vertical sheets of combs that moved opposite to each other, depositing the tow upon a revolving cylinder covered with a brush at the bottom of the machine, while the holder from which the strick was suspended moved up and down so as to help the teeth to penetrate deeper into the flax. The tow was removed from the cylinder at the bottom of the machine and taken away to be spun like cotton. The long line fibres were removed from the top of the machine and required further processing if the yarn was to be uniform.When N.L.Sadi Carnot's book Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu, was published in 1824, Girard made a favourable report on it.[br]Further ReadingM.Daumas (ed.), 1968, Histoire générale des techniques, Vol. III: L'Expansion duMachinisme, Paris.C.Singer (ed.), 1958, A History of'Technology, Vol. IV, Oxford: Clarendon Press. T.K.Derry and T.I.Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the EarliestTimes to AD 1900, Oxford.W.A.McCutcheon, 1966–7, "Water power in the North of Ireland", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 39 (discusses the spinning of flax and mentions Girard).RLH -
2 Cotton, William
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 1819 Seagrave, Leicestershire, Englandd. after 1878[br]English inventor of a power-driven flat-bed knitting machine.[br]Cotton was originally employed in Loughborough and became one of the first specialized hosiery-machine builders. After the introduction of the latch needle by Matthew Townsend in 1856, knitting frames developed rapidly. The circular frame was easier to work automatically, but attempts to apply power to the flat frame, which could produce fully fashioned work, culminated in 1863 with William Cotton's machine. In that year he invented a machine that could make a dozen or more stockings or hose simultaneously and knit fashioned garments of all kinds. The difficulty was to reduce automatically the number of stitches in the courses where the hose or garment narrowed to give it shape. Cotton had early opportunities to apply himself to the improvement of hosiery machines while employed in the patent shop of Cartwright \& Warner of Loughborough, where some of the first rotaries were made. He remained with the firm for twenty years, during which time sixty or seventy of these machines were turned out. Cotton then established a factory for the manufacture of warp fabrics, and it was here that he began to work on his ideas. He had no knowledge of the principles of engineering or drawing, so his method of making sketches and then getting his ideas roughed out involved much useless labour. After twelve years, in 1863, a patent was issued for the machine that became the basis of the Cotton's Patent type. This was a flat frame driven by rotary mechanism and remarkable for its adaptability. At first he built his machine upright, like a cottage piano, but after much thought and experimentation he conceived the idea of turning the upper part down flat so that the needles were in a vertical position instead of being horizontal, and the work was carried off horizontally instead of vertically. His first machine produced four identical pieces simultaneously, but this number was soon increased. Cotton was induced by the success of his invention to begin machine building as a separate business and thus established one of the first of a class of engineering firms that sprung up as an adjunct to the new hosiery manufacture. He employed only a dozen men and turned out six machines in the first year, entering into an agreement with Hine \& Mundella for their exclusive use. This was later extended to the firm of I. \& R.Morley. In 1878, Cotton began to build on his own account, and the business steadily increased until it employed some 200 workers and had an output of 100 machines a year.[br]Bibliography1863, British patent no. 1,901 (flat-frame knitting machine).Further ReadingF.A.Wells, 1935, The British Hosiery and Knitwear Industry: Its History and Organisation, London (based on an article in the Knitters' Circular (Feb. 1898).A brief account of the background to Cotton's invention can be found in T.K.Derry and T.I. Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to AD 1900, Oxford; C. Singer (ed.), 1958, A History of Technology, Vol. V, Oxford: Clarendon Press.F.Moy Thomas, 1900, I. \& R.Morley. A Record of a Hundred Years, London (mentions cotton's first machines).RLH -
3 Deverill, Hooton
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]fl. c.1835 England[br]English patentee of the first successful adaptation of the Jacquard machine for patterned lacemaking.[br]After John Levers had brought out his lacemaking machine in 1813, other lacemakers proceeded to elaborate their machinery so as to imitate the more complicated forms of handwork. One of these was Samuel Draper of Nottingham, who took out one patent in 1835 for the use of a Jacquard mechanism on a lace making machine, followed by another in 1837. However, material made on his machine cost more than the handmade article, so the experiment was abandoned after three years. Then, in Nottingham in 1841, Hooton Deverill patented the first truly successful application of the Jacquard to lacemaking. The Jacquard needles caused the warp threads to be pushed sideways to form the holes in the lace while the bobbins were moved around them to bind them together. This made it possible to reproduce most of the traditional patterns of handmade lace in both narrow and wide pieces. Lace made on these machines became cheap enough for most people to be able to hang it in their windows as curtains, or to use it for trimming clothing. However, it raised in a most serious form the problem of patent rights between the two patentees, Deverill and Draper, threatening much litigation. Deverill's patent was bought by Richard Birkin, who with his partner Biddle relinquished the patent rights. The lacemaking trade on these machines was thus thrown open to the public and a new development of the trade took place. Levers lace is still made in the way described here.[br]Bibliography1841, British patent no. 8,955 (adaptation of Jacquard machine for patterned lacemaking).Further ReadingW.Felkin, 1867, History of Machine-Wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufacture (provides an account of Deverill's patent).C.Singer (ed.), 1958, A History of'Technology, Vol. V, Oxford: Clarendon Press (a modern account).T.K.Derry and T.I.Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the EarliestTimes to AD 1900, Oxford.RLH -
4 Möller, Anton
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]fl. c. 1580 Danzig, Poland[br]Polish may have been involved with the invention of the ribbon loom.[br]Around 1586, Anton Möller related that he saw in Danzig a loom on which four to six pieces of ribbon could be woven at once. Some accounts say he may have invented this loom, which required no skill to use beyond the working of a bar. The city council was afraid that a great many workers might be reduced to begging because of this invention, so they had it suppressed and the inventor strangled or drowned. It seems to have been in use in London c. 1616 and at Leiden in Holland by 1620, but its spread was handicapped both by popular rioting and by restrictive legislation. By 1621 the capacity of the loom had been increased to twenty-four ribbons, and it was later increased to fifty. It made its appearance in Lancashire around 1680 and the way the shuttles were operated could have given John Kay the inspiration for his flying shuttle.[br]Further ReadingA.Barlow, 1878, The History and Principles of Weaving by Hand and by Power, London (includes a good description and illustration of the invention).T.K.Deny and T.I.Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Timesto AD 1900, Oxford; C.Singer (ed.), 1957, A History of Technology, Vol. III, Oxford: Clarendon Press (both provide brief accounts of the introduction of the ribbon loom).RLH -
5 Heilmann, Josué (Joshua)
SUBJECT AREA: Textiles[br]b. 1796 Alsaced. 1848[br]Alsatian inventor of the first machine for combing cotton.[br]Josué Heilmann, of Mulhouse, was awarded 5,000 francs offered by the cotton spinners of Alsace for a machine that would comb cotton. It was a process not hitherto applied to this fibre and, when perfected, enabled finer, smoother and more lustrous yarns to be spun. The important feature of Heilmann's method was to use a grip or nip to hold the end of the sliver that was being combed. Two or more combs passed through the protruding fibres to comb them thoroughly, and a brush cylinder and knife cleared away the noils. The combed section was passed forward so that the part held in the nip could then be combed. The combed fibres were joined up with the length already finished. Heilmann obtained a British patent in 1846, but no machines were put to work until 1851. Six firms of cotton spinners in Lancashire paid £30,000 for the cotton-combing rights and Marshall's of Leeds paid £20,000 for the rights to comb flax. Heilmann's machine was used on the European continent for combing silk as well as flax, wool and cotton, so it proved to be very versatile. Priority of his patent was challenged in England because Lister had patented a combing machine with a gripper or nip in 1843; in 1852 the parties went to litigation and cross-suits were instituted. While Heilmann obtained a verdict of infringement against Lister for certain things, Lister also obtained one against Heilmann for other matters. After this outcome, Heilmann's patent was bought on speculation by Messrs Akroyd and Titus Salt for £30,000, but was afterwards resold to Lister for the same amount. In this way Lister was able to exploit his own patent through suppressing Heilmann's.[br]Bibliography1846, British patent no. 11,103 (cotton-combing machine).Further ReadingFor descriptions of his combing machine see: W.English, 1969, The Textile Industry, London; T.K.Derry and T.I.Williams, 1960, A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to AD 1900, Oxford; and C.Singer (ed.), 1958, A History of Technology, Vol.IV, Oxford: Clarendon Press.RLHBiographical history of technology > Heilmann, Josué (Joshua)
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